The independent Good Safari Guide launches its 2015 directory in app form for the first time on the 15th March 2015. 

 “The Good Safari Guide is the definitive 'Who's Who' of the safari industry; every year Fundu are featured confirms to us we're at the top of our game.” – Marcus Lewis, owner of Fundu Lagoon in Tanzania

'Safari' means 'journey', a Kiswahili word adopted during the colonial days when a safari meant you were off on a journey in the bush, armed with rifles, possibly never to return. Being in the wild has ensnared the hearts of so many that 'safaris' have burgeoned well beyond the original canvas-themed walking safari. The Good Safari Guide encapsulates all the word now means, featuring safari lodges, houses, camps and mobile operations from the bush and desert to the beach or riverbank, from well-managed national parks to vast and empty salt pans.

The Good Safari Guide Directory App of leading safari lodges and camps is the most comprehensive collection of the best safari product. The independently produced directory, now in it's 10th year, is regarded as the industry bible, featuring only finalists and winners of The Safari Awards*, voted for annually by tens of thousands of safari-savvy travellers, travel journalists and the safari travel trade. The safari products in the app are indisputably la crème de la crème of the safari tourism sector.

The directory app presents mature, in depth information covering 200 safari lodges across 11 countries in Africa, in the form of standardized double page spreads, along with country information, helpful general knowledge (such as what to pack and when to go), and recommendations of trusted independent tour operators with whom to book your safari.

The 2015 Good Safari Guide directory is available free, from the launch date of Sunday 15th March, as an Apple and Android App. The Guide is also available as usual in print via Amazon, as a digi-guide and a downloadable pdf via www.goodsafariguide.com. A snapshot of safari destinations featured in the Guide can be viewed at www.goodsafariguide.com/africa/. 

The app is aimed at everyone who finds safaris inspiring, from youngsters dreaming up their honeymoons to grandparents planning '3-G' (3 generational) travel with their offspring. It gives you the low down on destinations such as

-       Footsteps Across the Delta in Botswana's rich seasonal floodland - winners of the Best Ecologically-Sensitive Camp and the Best Family Safari Camp, 2015;

-       it will introduce you to a novel safari destination in Ethiopia's Bale Mountain Lodge where you might see the world's rarest canid, the Ethiopian wolf;

-       it will inform you about the conservation work of Uganda's Bwindi Lodge in Uganda, protecting the mountain gorillas in the impenetrable forest;

-       it will highlight that Cottar's 1920's Camp hosts a talent of 5 of Kenya's 15 Gold-level safari guides;

-       it will entice you with the blues of Mozambique's Azura Quilalea Private Island,

-       and it will put you in the know by featuring this year's Best New Safari Lodge, Norman Carr's Chinzombo in Zambia.

Good Safari Guide editor Rosanne Cobb comments:

'There are tens of thousands of safari lodges in Africa so it can be very daunting trying to sort the wheat from the chaff. With with over ten years' worth of data, and the best safari experts behind our awards process, we make this process much easier. We pride ourselves in being completely independent – we don't sell travel – so accurate information will always be faithfully represented.

The Good Safari Guide App is the key to giving the prospective safari-goer confidence in booking their safari.  In app-form this information is even more accessible: prospective travellers can peruse and daydream about their safari with any spare 5 minutes.”

Notes for Editors

The Good Safari Guide lodges are all finalists and winners in the Safari Awards www.safariawards.com

*The Safari Awards, now in operation 10 years, are an independent body overseen by a panel of the most experienced and well-respected safari experts from around the globe. www.safariawards.com/judges

The Safari Awards categories include:

Best Safari Lodge Cuisine

Best Community-focused

Best Value Safari Lodge

Best Walking Safari

Best Marine Safari Lodge

Best Romantic Safari Lodge

Best Safari Spa

Best Mobile Safari

Best Safari Guiding Team

Best New Safari Lodge

Best Safari House

Best Safari Family Safari Experience